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The Jungle Grows Back: America and Our Imperiled World by Robert Kagan
2.0
2.5/5
As 2021 brings in the transition of the Biden Administration, the United States is once again at a point of a radical policy shift. One of the topics that President Biden needs to start taking into consideration is what the U.S.’ foreign policy stance will be in the next four years. Despite being one of the most crucial and formative issues facing the new Administration, it’s one that the public doesn’t seem to have much of an opinion on (myself included). In a brief but thorough book, Robert Kagan’s The Jungle Grows Back reflects on America’s history with foreign policy and argues why we need to have a strong stance on it today. It works to outline the country’s stance during large global events like World War II and the Cold War while starting to make suggestions about today. The Jungle Grows Back introduced me to the foundation of America’s foreign policy approach. As a Communications student unfamiliar with international relations, I was glad to have the opportunity to build a targeted foundation of the U.S.’ history in this field. Despite not having much background information, however, I read Kagan’s book just as critically as I would any text.
To start, Kagan highlights that America’s presence in the rest of the world is important and that he believes there is still “a liberal world order to be salvaged if the American people decide it’s worth salvaging” (154). This highlights the call to action at the very core of the book: liberal democracy and the world order have only lasted this long because they’ve been supported and nurtured. If the U.S. continues to ignore the troubles of the rest of the world for long enough, our entire way of life will disappear. My opinion on the U.S.’ role in the rest of the world is the humble approach. I believe that this country is so polarized and divided that we can’t agree on anything let alone when to interfere in international politics. Especially with the stark differences in the Trump and Biden administrations back-to-back, even the policymakers at the White House aren’t sure what a good foreign policy stance looks like. While I believe that the U.S. needs to sort out its domestic approach before it should start enacting its will on other countries, I still found Kagan’s insights interesting. They gave me something to think about moving forward in policy discussions and in my coursework at American University.
One of the most surprising takeaways I found was that Americans didn’t feel the need to be involved in World War I when it erupted: “frightening, fascinating, far away, and... none of their business” (17). This highlights the belief of a lot of Americans today when they look at the news. Even media outlets focus primarily on U.S. centric news with very little stake in international news or politics. It makes sense, to an extent, that Americans a hundred years ago would have felt the same, but hindsight is key. I can say that it made total and complete sense for the U.S. to get involved in the World Wars now that I know their lasting effects, but who’s to say that future generations won’t say that about the U.S.’ involvement in Myanmar or something similar?
Another one of Kagan’s strengths in this book is in framing this much information in a relatively concise way. He could have drawn out 300 years of history into a 500-page textbook and I wouldn’t have been able to complain too much. It’s a lot of history. So, despite The Jungle Grows Back being only 163 pages, he introduces a lot of minute detail and historic perspectives in an attempt to make the information less boring. The way he frames a lot of this information is unique and the analogies he introduces helped me think about the issues in a different way. Despite the book being shorter than a history textbook’s length, Kagan did follow the basic format of one: chronological with the occasional aside at the end of a section. To be blunt, I don’t find this entertaining or engaging as a reader. Especially considering that I’m a student who’s constantly required to read academic texts, I selfishly wish he had done something more exciting.
Something I found troubling while reading this book, however, was the lack of clear author analysis. Going into it, I expected Kagan to do more work to convince me of the path that U.S. foreign policy should take than he did. While I could draw conclusions based on what information he chose to include, I feel that he only offered a framework for all of this history in the last section: Protecting the Garden. He insists that “We can’t quit having a foreign policy” (159). While I do agree with this point, I believe that the book in its entirety would have been stronger if Kagan had asserted that statement multiple times throughout the book.
To be honest, there could have been subtle nods to this throughout the text that I didn’t pick up on. That’s because in covering such a large expanse of history, Kagan utilizes quotes, perspectives, and opinions from a whole host of world leaders; some of whom I agree with and others I don’t. It was unclear in a lot of these places if Kagan was speaking for someone else or himself. This is a great weakness, I believe, in writing a book that’s supposed to convince readers to think a certain way about foreign policy. Because if I can’t tell if the author is the one speaking or an international relations theorist who was proven wrong, I’m hesitant to take anything in the book at face value. It’s an easy fix, though. If Kagan spent more of his book working through his own analysis of historical issues and connecting lines of logic for his readers, I think I’d be more engaged throughout.
Finally, I also noticed a few places in the book where Kagan’s rhetoric made me uncomfortable. For example, when Kagan talks about the dangers of the U.S. recognizing Russia as a sphere of influence, he says that “even if we sacrificed Ukrainian independence...in the hope of sating Russians’ ambitions, such concessions would not solve the problem” (114). This highlights language of ownership. The U.S. making a decision to sacrifice Ukrainian independence implies that it is the U.S.’ independence to surrender. It reads as imperialist. And Kagan doesn’t address that kind of mindset as an issue, but works that thinking into a lot of his points. In this way, the book's tone sometimes bordered on condescending. Kagan’s nationalist lens of the U.S. toed the line of arrogance. At one point, Kagan illustrates his view that America’s current era of peace and prosperity could not have been achieved without the “costs and failures” of the “Vietnam War, Bay of Pigs, McCarthyism”, etc. (82). While he does emphasize that these events were errors and evils in history, I don’t agree with his wording. It feels like Kagan is attempting to justify this; I don’t believe that war should ever be necessary or inevitable, especially not in pursuit of peace. This is not the only time Kagan asserted something similar throughout the book; that if only the U.S. had been more involved in the world and had more of a say in world events, then maybe World War II wouldn’t have happened. I believe that that kind of speculation does more harm than good.
In terms of relevance, The Jungle Grows Back adequately compliments the coursework of COMM-443: Foreign Policy and the Press. I appreciate that this book can start the semester off with a comprehensive overview of foreign policy. Moving forward in class, I’ll have a greater wealth of understanding of the topic to fall back on. It sets a good foundation that I can build upon in discussions. If the course should continue to use this book, however, I recommend pushing its place in the semester back a week or two. A lot of my issues with this book revolved around not being able to identify the author’s position let alone their bias on the issue. While I trust that Kagan’s reporting of facts was accurate, I am hesitant to believe any advice or opinions of his own he included at face-value. I don’t like that this is the only perspective I currently have on a lot of these topics. If a portion of COMM-443 were devoted to a lecture on the basics of U.S. foreign policy, and The Jungle Grows Back served as a more in-depth companion, I’d feel more secure in my understanding of it. I’d love the chance to talk through this book with my peers more than anything.
So, while Kagan’s book The Jungle Grows Back served as a decent introduction to all matters foreign policy, his arguments for why the U.S. should stay heavily involved in every matter of global importance often fell flat. I feel better educated on the topic, but I can’t wholeheartedly say I’m convinced.
As 2021 brings in the transition of the Biden Administration, the United States is once again at a point of a radical policy shift. One of the topics that President Biden needs to start taking into consideration is what the U.S.’ foreign policy stance will be in the next four years. Despite being one of the most crucial and formative issues facing the new Administration, it’s one that the public doesn’t seem to have much of an opinion on (myself included). In a brief but thorough book, Robert Kagan’s The Jungle Grows Back reflects on America’s history with foreign policy and argues why we need to have a strong stance on it today. It works to outline the country’s stance during large global events like World War II and the Cold War while starting to make suggestions about today. The Jungle Grows Back introduced me to the foundation of America’s foreign policy approach. As a Communications student unfamiliar with international relations, I was glad to have the opportunity to build a targeted foundation of the U.S.’ history in this field. Despite not having much background information, however, I read Kagan’s book just as critically as I would any text.
To start, Kagan highlights that America’s presence in the rest of the world is important and that he believes there is still “a liberal world order to be salvaged if the American people decide it’s worth salvaging” (154). This highlights the call to action at the very core of the book: liberal democracy and the world order have only lasted this long because they’ve been supported and nurtured. If the U.S. continues to ignore the troubles of the rest of the world for long enough, our entire way of life will disappear. My opinion on the U.S.’ role in the rest of the world is the humble approach. I believe that this country is so polarized and divided that we can’t agree on anything let alone when to interfere in international politics. Especially with the stark differences in the Trump and Biden administrations back-to-back, even the policymakers at the White House aren’t sure what a good foreign policy stance looks like. While I believe that the U.S. needs to sort out its domestic approach before it should start enacting its will on other countries, I still found Kagan’s insights interesting. They gave me something to think about moving forward in policy discussions and in my coursework at American University.
One of the most surprising takeaways I found was that Americans didn’t feel the need to be involved in World War I when it erupted: “frightening, fascinating, far away, and... none of their business” (17). This highlights the belief of a lot of Americans today when they look at the news. Even media outlets focus primarily on U.S. centric news with very little stake in international news or politics. It makes sense, to an extent, that Americans a hundred years ago would have felt the same, but hindsight is key. I can say that it made total and complete sense for the U.S. to get involved in the World Wars now that I know their lasting effects, but who’s to say that future generations won’t say that about the U.S.’ involvement in Myanmar or something similar?
Another one of Kagan’s strengths in this book is in framing this much information in a relatively concise way. He could have drawn out 300 years of history into a 500-page textbook and I wouldn’t have been able to complain too much. It’s a lot of history. So, despite The Jungle Grows Back being only 163 pages, he introduces a lot of minute detail and historic perspectives in an attempt to make the information less boring. The way he frames a lot of this information is unique and the analogies he introduces helped me think about the issues in a different way. Despite the book being shorter than a history textbook’s length, Kagan did follow the basic format of one: chronological with the occasional aside at the end of a section. To be blunt, I don’t find this entertaining or engaging as a reader. Especially considering that I’m a student who’s constantly required to read academic texts, I selfishly wish he had done something more exciting.
Something I found troubling while reading this book, however, was the lack of clear author analysis. Going into it, I expected Kagan to do more work to convince me of the path that U.S. foreign policy should take than he did. While I could draw conclusions based on what information he chose to include, I feel that he only offered a framework for all of this history in the last section: Protecting the Garden. He insists that “We can’t quit having a foreign policy” (159). While I do agree with this point, I believe that the book in its entirety would have been stronger if Kagan had asserted that statement multiple times throughout the book.
To be honest, there could have been subtle nods to this throughout the text that I didn’t pick up on. That’s because in covering such a large expanse of history, Kagan utilizes quotes, perspectives, and opinions from a whole host of world leaders; some of whom I agree with and others I don’t. It was unclear in a lot of these places if Kagan was speaking for someone else or himself. This is a great weakness, I believe, in writing a book that’s supposed to convince readers to think a certain way about foreign policy. Because if I can’t tell if the author is the one speaking or an international relations theorist who was proven wrong, I’m hesitant to take anything in the book at face value. It’s an easy fix, though. If Kagan spent more of his book working through his own analysis of historical issues and connecting lines of logic for his readers, I think I’d be more engaged throughout.
Finally, I also noticed a few places in the book where Kagan’s rhetoric made me uncomfortable. For example, when Kagan talks about the dangers of the U.S. recognizing Russia as a sphere of influence, he says that “even if we sacrificed Ukrainian independence...in the hope of sating Russians’ ambitions, such concessions would not solve the problem” (114). This highlights language of ownership. The U.S. making a decision to sacrifice Ukrainian independence implies that it is the U.S.’ independence to surrender. It reads as imperialist. And Kagan doesn’t address that kind of mindset as an issue, but works that thinking into a lot of his points. In this way, the book's tone sometimes bordered on condescending. Kagan’s nationalist lens of the U.S. toed the line of arrogance. At one point, Kagan illustrates his view that America’s current era of peace and prosperity could not have been achieved without the “costs and failures” of the “Vietnam War, Bay of Pigs, McCarthyism”, etc. (82). While he does emphasize that these events were errors and evils in history, I don’t agree with his wording. It feels like Kagan is attempting to justify this; I don’t believe that war should ever be necessary or inevitable, especially not in pursuit of peace. This is not the only time Kagan asserted something similar throughout the book; that if only the U.S. had been more involved in the world and had more of a say in world events, then maybe World War II wouldn’t have happened. I believe that that kind of speculation does more harm than good.
In terms of relevance, The Jungle Grows Back adequately compliments the coursework of COMM-443: Foreign Policy and the Press. I appreciate that this book can start the semester off with a comprehensive overview of foreign policy. Moving forward in class, I’ll have a greater wealth of understanding of the topic to fall back on. It sets a good foundation that I can build upon in discussions. If the course should continue to use this book, however, I recommend pushing its place in the semester back a week or two. A lot of my issues with this book revolved around not being able to identify the author’s position let alone their bias on the issue. While I trust that Kagan’s reporting of facts was accurate, I am hesitant to believe any advice or opinions of his own he included at face-value. I don’t like that this is the only perspective I currently have on a lot of these topics. If a portion of COMM-443 were devoted to a lecture on the basics of U.S. foreign policy, and The Jungle Grows Back served as a more in-depth companion, I’d feel more secure in my understanding of it. I’d love the chance to talk through this book with my peers more than anything.
So, while Kagan’s book The Jungle Grows Back served as a decent introduction to all matters foreign policy, his arguments for why the U.S. should stay heavily involved in every matter of global importance often fell flat. I feel better educated on the topic, but I can’t wholeheartedly say I’m convinced.
Writers & Lovers by Lily King
3.0
3.5⭐️ Very cute! A little slow on the upstart and I didn’t start liking Casey until 100 pages in. But I was smiling by the end!